A black box makes sense in the darkest month of the year. Behind the doors sits heavy molasses rum from Guyana next to fresh cane juice from Guadeloupe, and somewhere in the run there is one bottled at navy strength. You can change your mind about rum several times over 24 days.
The expert's description
24 Days of Rum Black Edition - Rum Advent Calendar filled with 24 x 2 cl is a rum advent calendar holding 24 different rums in 2 cl miniature bottles at strengths from 38% to 54.5%, with two glasses in the box.
The concept comes from 1423 World Class Spirits, a Danish company that has turned the rum calendar into a fixed part of December for rum drinkers in a good many countries. The selection follows one rule: as many origins as possible within 24 doors. The two glasses are included so the rum can be tasted properly from 1 December rather than poured into whatever tumbler is nearest.
Geography is the real content here. There is heavy molasses-based rum from Jamaica and Guyana, aged Spanish style bottlings from Panama, Peru, Guatemala and El Salvador, and rhum agricole pressed from fresh cane juice in Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion. Further afield come bottles from Mauritius, Indonesia, Brazil, Australia and Cambodia, where Kampot pepper has been steeped into the rum. One is distilled on Orkney, an island known for something rather different from sugar cane.
A couple of the doors hold rum-based spirit drinks rather than straight rum, and that is deliberate: the calendar is meant to show the edges of the category as well as its centre. The running order stays hidden, but the full list of all 24 bottles sits under the FAQ tab.
Tasting notes
Nose
Molasses and dark brown sugar form the base note throughout, but the French bottles break the pattern with green cane, olive and something earthy. Along the way banana, coconut and dried apricot turn up, and on one day there is a clear smell of freshly cracked pepper.
Palate
From tight and dry to round and cask-sweet. The aged Central American rums are soft with vanilla, caramel and toasted oak, while the Jamaican and Guyanese ones are sharper-edged with liquorice, dark fruit and an oily weight. The agricole bottles cut through with acidity and cane juice, and the 54.5% of the navy bottling registers from the first sip.
Finish
Length varies as much as the styles do. The lightest let go quickly on cane and citrus, while the heavy ones hang on with tobacco, dark chocolate and spiced wood.
Specifications
Name: 24 Days of Rum Black Edition - Rum Advent Calendar filled with 24 x 2 cl
Producer: 1423 World Class Spirits
Region/Country: Rum from around the world
Type: Rum Advent Calendar
ABV: 38-54.5%
Size: 2 CL per bottle
Number of bottles in the calendar: 24
Edition: Black Edition
Serving suggestion: Neat at room temperature in a small glass, with a single drop of water if needed
Flavour profile
Molasses · Dried Fruit · Spiced · Cane-fresh · Cask-aged
Did you know?
Each of the 24 miniature bottles carries its own label, drawn to mirror the producer's original bottle. Nothing is tasted blind, and from 1 December the rum of the day can be looked up and rated by rum drinkers worldwide at 24daysofrum.com.
See our full range of Advent Calendar
